RAF Take Two!!2!

Phew.

1 - 60 in 1 day, 15 hours... well, 58 on the Druid, 59 on the Shaman, but with enough XP to probably hit 60 when I log back in and turn in some more quests, or burn thru a Stratholme run one more time on follow. Back when vanilla WoW cost only 5 dollars, I picked up a copy with the intent to pull this off, but never got around to it. Once I made up my mind to do it, after playing with a friend's Shaman one day, I decided to take the plunge, and just get it over with. I putzed around pretty inefficiently in the beginning, trying to catch the new Druid up to level 11, so the existing level 11 Shaman and her would be on the same level, then got bit in the ass once I did that by having full heirlooms on the Shaman. Ishobelle leveled 20% faster than Izzobelle until I realized what was happening and took off the heirlooms.

I've done this once before, so I knew what to expect, but I expanded on a few neat tricks and really took it to another level this time. I won't cover everything in that last link, I'll be elaborating on it assuming you've at least skimmed that entry.

Last time, I was leveling a Warrior with my Priest on follow, and about halfway through the process I got 'lent' a 78 Paladin, and began farming instances. This time around I had a spare 80 the whole way, and went for broke. The running total at this point is 43 instance runs ("5 man dungeons entered" on the Druids achievement stats page). Basically SFK from 10 to 20, SM (mostly Cath, but Library, Graveyard, and Armory once each) from 20 to 45, and then Stratholme from there on out. I didn't kill Arugal in SFK but twice out of the many runs in there... I can pull the whole dungeon up to Fenrus and kite it back to the entrance to AoE down in one pull, and wasn't interested in running back after that, so I don't know exactly how many times I ran SFK, but I killed Mograine in SM Cath 27 times, and then ran BRD twice, hated that, and began running Stratholme (undead and live side). BRD is ridiculous, and should be avoided. ;)

The improvements on my original setup used a more elaborate "standard macro".

Look:

#showtooltip
/target [target=focus,help,nodead][target=party1,nodead]
/assist
/cast XXXXXXX

the XXXX is obviously the spell in question, but the previous time around I had names explicitly spelled out ("/target Izobelle"). By using that first line ("/target [target=focus,help,nodead][target=party1,nodead]") instead, I target my focus if I have one set, or the party leader if not. This allows me to log the 80 out, and run around town with just my two noobs to do things like train without receiving 'target not found' errors... as long as there's a party leader, the ' passive assister' will be able to target them.

My follow macro is very similar:

/target [target=focus,help,nodead][target=party1,nodead]
/follow

Basically, the druid always tailed behind as a balance, with assist macros on every spell, and the Shaman would shift between assist macros or the direct spell buttons themselves depending on whether or not the 80 was present. Eventually the druid made it all the way to Moonkin form, and became a passive 5% crit trinket for the group. I intentionally specced them strangely, skipping over what would seem like no brainer talents, because I was aiming for low maintenance, and things like Wrath totem weren't needed, since the 80 was dropping it already.

Keyclone broadcast key presses across mutilple WoW windows, so pushing "4" cast Lightning bolt on both Shamans, and Wrath on the druid (both low level toons /assisting the 80), and pressing "5" had 2x Chain Lightning and a Moonfire. "9" was 2x Flame Shock + Insect Swarm. I just tried to line up similar functions across all three toons, and had the 80 throwing out a chain heal in a pinch. "=" activated my follow macro on the two noobs (and did nothing on the 80).

All in all it was pretty efficient, and I was able to get mounts at level 20 instead of waiting until 40. I also pulled jedi summoning tricks with my RAF account this time around. This is an important concept to grasp, as it saves you a lot of time and agony of walking anywhere on foot. The Shaman's water totem quest, for some ungodly reason, has you ping ponging back and forth across both continents to just "talk to people" then run back. By using your veteran account with epic ground speed, you can cut this down drastically....

For example, my two noobs need to get to Scarlet Monstery the other side of the world, and hearths are on cool:

1) log in main account's 80, and run there on the Magical Star Pony.
2) log the recruited account, and create a level 1 alt, named "EssEmm"
3) invite EssEmm to Ixobelle's group, and "summon friend".
4) Log Ixobelle out, and log Ishobelle (main accounts noob Shaman)
5) Essemm summons Ishobelle
6) log Essemm out, and log back in Izzobelle (new accounts noob Druid)
7) Ishobelle summons Izzobelle
8) Hooray

Once you grasp this concept of creating level one 'bookmark' toons, you can park them at class trainers on opposing accounts, or park them at instance gates, and hearthing can be used for just getting back to flight paths or whatever. I think both of my toons are still hearthed to Sepulcher, because once I started using this system, I didn't need to hearth anymore.


Now, though, I'm staring down level 60, which means the triple XP stops, and I have to go to the Outlands, easily my least favorite area. I think at this point the 80 goes away, and the two of them just grind quests. Maybe the druid even goes resto so HoTs tick for more, since my Shaman will essentially be tanking damage to the face... or the Druid goes bear and the Shaman goes resto...? We'll see.

Hatch made some really good points on how ridiculous hybrids are, which is what inspired me to roll these two in the first place. I've had a druid at level 70 endgame (that account now banned, /cry), but never poked around on a shaman at all before now. Honestly, though... Druids can be 1) Tank 2) Melee DPS 3) Healers --and-- 4) Ranged DPS. Shamans can do all of those also, except tanking. I have no intention of adding to the Paladin glut, and besides I already have a mid-60-ish one on a separate account that will probably be reactivated to level as a merry little band of hybrids in the Outlands when these two reach 64 or whatever level the paly is at. I should make an alt guild called AND WE DRIVE PRIUSES LOLOLOLOL with the three of these chumps in it. I think I will.


All this comes down to the fact that I'll be pretty much out of options come Cata's "new old world". I guess I still don't have a Mage, and... uhh... just a Mage I guess. : / I'll have to start deleting toons to make space for any new toons I make. 9 slots per server, and 10 playable classes? At least I moved my Warrior to Zul'jin along with my Hunter, but they never get played anymore. :(